Page 44 of #Starstruck

My phone buzzed, and when I got to a stoplight, I checked it. It was a text from Chase.

And just like that, all my negativity and doubt dissipated. Like early-morning fog at the beach once the sun started to rise. So what if he hadn’t kissed me? He wanted to see me again!

I felt slightly pathetic that I was so easily swayed. I used the speech-to-text feature on my phone to reply.

Without hesitation, I replied:

And just as quickly he responded:

The smart thing would be to text him back and sayThanks, but no thanks. I don’t want to spend my time trying to figure out what you want because you’re sending completely mixed signals.

Of course I didn’t do that.

I was just like Zelda with her chocolate. I should stay away from Chase, but I just wanted to eat him up.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I received a text from Chase every morning and one every night around bedtime. All innocent and innocuous. Just “Have a good day” and “Sweet dreams.” Stuff like that.

He also sent me random questions throughout the week. A couple of days before, he’d asked,

In that moment, despite what I’d said previously, I probably would have chosen mind reading. Just so I could understand what exactly was happening between us.

Instead, I chose:

Another day he sent this:

My grandmother talked to me a lot about the letters she and my grandpa had exchanged. How they’d used them to get to know each other and how sad it made her that that sort of communication had faded away. But as I sat giggling over my phone, I realized it hadn’t. It was different, but we were back to using the written word to see if we liked each other. If we were compatible.

And maybe someday we’d even use it to talk about our feelings.

Or lack thereof, as the case might be.

I went back to looking for work, and on Wednesday evening I got a phone call from a family who lived in the wealthy part of Marabella, not too far from where the Hendersons had lived. Their nanny had up and quit with no notice because she had eloped to Las Vegas with the gardener. The Mendels were desperate for help. They had found a babysitter who could work only mornings, and Mrs.Mendel said she would be willing to work with my schedule. It would involve going to their home a couple of evenings after my internship, which I hadn’t done for the Hendersons, but I needed the job. The Mendels had adopted two little girls from China, Lily and Mei-Ling, and I thought watching two girls after my experience with the Henderson boys might be a nice change. They offered me an hourly wage that was a bit higher than the Hendersons had paid me.

It seemed too good to be true.

“I’ll have to thank Mrs.Henderson for the referral,” I said when we had finalized the arrangements.

“Oh no. You’ll have to thank Chase Covington. My husband works as an executive at Daylight Studios, and Chase overheard him talking about losing our nanny and said he’d seen you taking care of kids and gave you an excellent reference.”

Once we’d hung up, I wasn’t quite sure what to think about what she’d said. Was it okay for Chase to find me a job? Shouldn’t that have been my responsibility? Was it too much? It was kind and thoughtful and very much needed. I guessed that if all he wanted was to be friends, he was a good friend to have.

The rest of the week flew by—class, helping my mom, and interning at the Foundation. Before I knew it, it was Saturday morning. Chase said he’d be by to pick me up around nine o’clock.

Knowing Lexi would be passed out until well after noon, I’d agreed to it. I did take the precaution of waiting for him in the parking lot so I could just jump in his car when he arrived.

“This is a really nice car,” I said when I got in. He launched into some long explanation of the type of car it was, but I mostly tuned it out. I much preferred watching his profile and how he moved his hands around when he described something he was excited about. It was adorable. He kept pointing out features, and while I liked the cushy seats and the engine that purred like a large cat, my favorite feature of his car was the driver.

Even though he still made me a little nervous, the thing I noticed about hanging out with Chase was that our conversations never stalled. I, Queen of the Socially Inept, Duchess of Awkward Small Talk, enjoyed talking to him. It was like the outside world ceased to exist. Nothing else mattered. It was just me and him, connecting and laughing and joking around.

I didn’t think about what Lexi might say if she found out. How fast Stephanie would fire me if she knew Chase and I had become friends and I didn’t use our friendship for the Foundation’s benefit. How if we weren’t just friends, and at some point he pressed his lips against mine, between my celibacy and his no-marriage policy, we had an expiration date. Eventually he would grow tired of nothing happening between us, and I would become frustrated with waiting for him to change his mind about a serious relationship.

Even though it was out of character for me, I decided that just once I would enjoy the here and now. I’d stay on the ride until somebody kicked me off.

Then we were in Anaheim, and I could see Space Mountain, and suddenly I was six years old again, going to Disneyland for the first time with my grandparents.

We didn’t go to the main parking lot; he drove around to the opposite side of the park. He spoke to someone at a guard station, giving his name, and we were let in after the guard told us where to park.

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